Big enough to serve, small enough to care

In the last news article Situation on the logistics market in December 2020 we reported on various capacity problems in the ocean- and airfreight market. The situation is tight, rates are high and especially in China there is a lack of 40-foot high cube containers. For example, Shanghai's CAx (Container Availability Index, value above 0.5 = container surplus, value below 0.5 = container demand) was 0.01 points in week 49/2020, the lowest value of the year. At the same time, the average price per 40-foot container is currently over $4,000, according to the World Container Index. 

During these turbulent times, it is even more important for us to find new means and unconventional ways to meet logistic requirements of our customers. Thanks to our many years of experience as an International Logistics Service Provider, we know the needs of the industry very well and how to react to project business that is out of the ordinary while still offering our premium service quality. 

In this context, we would like to present three projects that we have organized for our customers with our usual flexibility and service quality, thus proving that we, as a medium-sized company, are exactly the right partner for them. 
 

Airbus A350 Charter

At present, the market situation is not expected to ease. On the contrary, the tight situation in the ocean freight sector will put further pressure on already scarce air freight capacities in the coming weeks. In addition, global vaccine distribution will exacerbate capacity constraints. To cope with this massive shortage of air cargo capacity, EgeTrans is chartering several Airbus A350 passenger aircraft or similar models from Lufthansa Cargo. 

Usually the aircraft is equipped with up to 325 seats. As so-called preighters they now mainly transport castings and spare parts as well as heavy cargo from Frankfurt to Chicago. A maximum of 40 tons and 110 cubic meters of cargo can be transported per flight. The first plane departed on December 6, 2020 carrying 37 tons of cargo and landed at Chicago O'Hare about 10 hours later. At this point we would like to thank Lufthansa Cargo for the fast and uncomplicated cooperation.

In our gallery (picture 1 to 3) you can see pictures of our preighter loading. 

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What is a preighter?
The term preighter was formed during the Corona crisis and is made up of the words passenger and freighter. Accordingly, a preighter is a passenger aircraft that has been converted or even reconstructed into a freighter. Due to the collapse of passenger traffic, which covers the largest share of the world's cargo volume, some airlines are using the passenger aircraft, which are now barely being used or not used at all, to transport goods and merchandise. Depending on the strategy, only existing cargo space in the lower deck (LD), i.e. the space in the aircraft located below the passenger area, is used, or additional goods and merchandise are placed in the empty passenger cabins, i.e. on the seats and in the baggage racks of the aircraft. On pure freighter aircraft, this cargo space is referred to as the main deck (MD). In some cases, equipment from within the passenger cabin is also removed in order to be able to maximize the cargo capacity of the preighter as much as possible.

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120 tons of animal food additives

Back in November, our air freight department had the privilege of handling a special order. 120,000 kilograms of yeast that is being used as animal food additive were to be flown at short notice from Frankfurt to Wisconsin, USA. In view of the known general conditions and considering the time component, this was not an easy undertaking. 

After the precarriage had been carried out with our own fleet of trucks, it was possible to transport the equivalent of six 40-foot containers in total, divided into six partial shipments of 20 tons each. Prior to departure, it was necessary to ensure that the cargo was made secure for transport by air. Due to the nature of the cargo, this was not easily accomplished via the X-ray inspection process. Despite this hurdle, we were able to secure the shipment via an alternative inspection procedure and hand it over to the airline secured for airfreight.  Over a period of approximately three weeks, the partial shipments were delivered to our customer's complete satisfaction. 

In our gallery on position 4 and 5 you can see pictures of this project.
 

Heavy transport to China

Finally, we would like to report on a heavy transport from the southwest of Baden-Württemberg to Suzhou, China near Shanghai. The large injection molding machine will arrive at the customer's site by the Chinese New Year in February. 

Due to the package dimensions of 5.40 x 2.90 x 3.40 meters and a weight of 24,000 kilograms, the necessary domestic and foreign transport permits had to be obtained weeks before the actual transport. To load the truck at the shipper’s premises, transport loops where attached to the wooden crate so it could be moved via overhead cranes. At the port of Hamburg, the machine was then reloaded onto special equipment – a 20-foot flat rack – due to its oversize and heavy weight. This was then loaded onto the modern Ultra Large Container Ship (ULCS) Ever Govern and is currently on its 34-day crossing to Shanghai. Upon the arrival of the ship, our colleagues in the Far East will take over and arrange the final delivery.

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Ultra Large Container Ship (ULCS)
An Ultra Large Container Ship is the group of the largest container ships currently in service. The Ever Govern has only been in service since 2019, is 400 meters long, 60 meters wide, has 80,000 hp, holds 20,000 TEU and is one of the top 10 ULCS.

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Photo 6 to 7 in our gallery show shots of this project. 

What can we do for you?
We are at our customer’s side even in this tense market situation – acting proactively, anticipating developments and flexibly adapting our service to the logistics situation.

Contact us today, we are happy to help.